Since the advent of the Internet, a difficulty faced by content providers is allowing users to easily access the content without having to enter complex data into their user devices, for example http addresses. Users may be discouraged from accessing content when they are required to enter a content address into a user device, such as a mobile phone.
A user may be presented with the option of accessing content through non-electronic means, or at least via means incapable of providing hyperlink access. Examples of such means include text books, billboards, leaflets, and other printed materials. Other examples include images or other information presented on a screen of a computing device which are available for viewing by the user, though not necessarily interaction (for example, the user cannot use a web browser operating on the computer, and instead must use their own user device which is separate to the computer device).
One known system utilises QR-codes, which are 2-dimensional printed or displayed codes that can encode hyperlinks. A user device such as a mobile phone is configured to capture an image of the QR-code, identify the QR-code, decode the QR-code, and in the case where a QR-code encodes a hyperlink, the user device is configured to access the web address of the hyperlink. Being 2-dimensional in nature, QR-codes are not well suited for presentation in text documents, as they disrupt the flow and formatting of the text. Further, as QR-codes directly encode a hyperlink, they are not suited to encoding information that changes over time.